Taylor Sharp founded Casting for Hope at just 16 years old after his mom’s death from Ovarian cancer. The group’s sole purpose is to benefit women in the same fight.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the small mountain town of Bakersville, North Carolina, the water is healing for many as women battling Ovarian cancer find a way to escape.
“To get out there and wade in that water, you feel free,” cancer survivor Teresa Franklin said.
Another cancer survivor, Irene Marie Willis echoes that sentiment, saying life is too short to not “enjoy every minute of it.”
Taylor Sharp, a co-founder of Casting for Hope, lost his mother to the disease when he was just 16 years old.
“I feel her very presence in all that we do, especially up at our retreat center,” Sharp said.
After the loss of his mom, Sharp picked up fly fishing with John Zimmerman, his English teacher at Patton High School in Morganton. Together, the two started Casting for Hope. It’s now in its 10th year.
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“We assist both to cover hospital costs and transport and lodging when they have treatment, down to prescription wigs,” Sharp said. “Whatever they need, we fill the gap financially.”
Casting for Hope also offers emotional assistance through fly fishing retreats.
“We bring women and their caregivers up to the mountains of North Carolina, away from the clinical setting to have a retreat experience with other women who are going through similar things,” Sharp said.
Casting for Hope recently hosted the U.S. Youth National Championships of Fly Fishing. More than $27,000 was raised for the nonprofit. The teens selected will compete at the world championships this summer in Italy.
But their biggest event is in April. A gold-level fly fishing competition featuring the best anglers from across the country. Sharp said he was able to turn his pain into purpose by helping others who shared his experience.
“A quote that my mom had left me was, ‘You can focus on your problems, or you can focus on your purpose,'” Sharp explained. “And for me, being able to fundraise for women who are going through similar experiences that she had, and similar struggles that she faced, it was totally a create light from darkness situation for me at a young age.”
Casting for Hope is open year-round for anyone who wants to come fish.
“The thing we hear almost always at our retreats from one, if not more of the women there, is that it might be the first time since their diagnosis that they haven’t thought about their cancer,” Sharp said. “The women and the families we support at Casting for Hope just give us so much more than we can even feel like we give them.”
Contact Sarah French at Sarah@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.
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